Adam Scott returns to TV in a creepy new workplace thriller that's worlds away from 'Parks & Recreation'

• "Severance" is a show about people who split their work and life memories for their jobs.
• It's a sharp satire of office culture that evolves into a thrilling mystery.

"Severance," at first blow, is a series about work-life balance taken to a comical, but also kind of sinister, extreme.

In the show, select employees of the fictional Lumon Industries undergo a procedure that divorces their work memories from those outside of the office. In doing so, the procedure effectively creates two selves that share a body — one on the outside, an "outie" unburdened by any pressure from the workplace, and one on the inside, an "innie" whose entire existence has taken place in the office.

Still, the show transcends the work-life concept, which feels topical (despite the fact that writer and executive producer Dan Erickson's pilot script predates it by several years) amid a global pandemic that, for many office workers, has forced a collision of their personal and professional lives.

Amid the jewel-tone office aesthetics and sharp corporate satire, "Severance" is a show about agency, and the measures people will take to gain, or maintain, control over their lives.

Adam Scott plays Mark, the main character of 'Severance'

Mark, a widow played by "Parks and Recreation" alum Adam Scott in a role that's worlds away from his Ben Wyatt days, is the series' focal point.

After accepting a "severed" position at Lumon following the loss of his wife, his "innie" – as the show refers to the severed workers while they're in the workplace — is eventually thrust into an unwanted leadership role on his team, who spend all day combing through grids of numbers to pick out any that look "scary."

As the series progresses, Mark and his teammates Irving (John Turturro), Dylan (Zach Cherry), and newcomer Helly (Britt Lower) begin to question their work, and the nature of a system that doesn't let them as "innies" quit their office purgatory unless their "outie" so wills it.

As their understanding, and desire for some modicum of power over their lives, progresses, they increasingly clash with supervisors Harmony Cobel, played by Patricia Arquette, and Seth Milchik, played by a frighteningly charming Tramell Tillman.

Scott's performance truly sells the idea that Mark's "innie" and "outie" are distinct, but not fully discrete, personalities: His physical nuance makes them feel like two different people in the way they carry themselves, but both bear the weight of Mark's grief, even if his "innie" doesn't quite know why.

In a press junket ahead of the premiere, Scott told Insider that Ben Stiller, who directed the majority of the show (Aoife McArdle directed episodes 4-6), played a major hand in helping him keep everything straight.

"I was putting as much of myself into the role as possible — which I think I always try to do, you always try to use as much of yourself as you can, I feel like I used everything I have in this role over the season," Scott said.

"That being said, neither half of Mark is like me very much. And so it ended up being a series of big swings," he continued, adding that he needed Stiller there to tell him "when something didn't work or something did work."

"I don't question his taste, because I just trust him implicitly," the actor said.

'Severance' masterfully blends many genres, serving as a thriller, workplace comedy, and satire all in one

One of the biggest selling points of "Severance" is how weird it is, and delightfully so.

In satirizing corporate culture, and the very idea of an office itself, it spins a mythos in which a company's founder — to its naive employees — becomes like a god, and supervisors are imbued with a kind of paternalistic power. Other teams are feared as possible mortal enemies, and boring self-help books become thrilling texts imbued with a kind of religious zest.

Even as the episodes grow tighter and tighter, and its action more and more sinister, "Severance" never loses the visual, and comedic, sensibility established in its early episodes. The effect is something that's mixed parts workplace comedy, thriller, and sci-fi mystery that oscillates between dire circumstances and bizarre corporate rewards like a "music and dance experience" that can be earned by completing a certain amount of work.

Ultimately, the show's bizarre tone, thoughtful commentary, and strong performances make it well worth your time.

"Severance" premieres its first two episodes on Apple TV+ on February 18.